What was once a lively and thriving knit blog has become a vast, empty cavern through which my lonely voice just echos(echosechosechos).

All good, I deserve it. I’ll just have to keep posting and eventually, the people will come back, right? (If you write it, they will cooooome!)

There is little to report on the knitting front. No progress has been made on the stockings. However, as I have been informed by the Christmas Countdown app on my friend Lisa’s iPhone, Christmas is still something like 67 days away, so it’s all good.

What is NOT all good is my recently online shopping experiences.

I am trying to launch a voice-over career. So far, I have invested MAD $$ into it, but have made no money back. This is mainly because there’s a lot more work I have to do on the front-end so I can position myself to make money, including the purchasing of certain audio equipment. SO, I decided to get off my lazy bum, take a step in the right direction and place an order for the things I need. YAY! PROGRESS!

Wanting to support local business, I headed over to the website of a local pro audio/video company. I’ve heard good things about them, their prices are good and, as I mentioned, they’re local. However, when I went to place my order on October 2nd, I learned that online ordering was suspended for the weekend for the Jewish holiday of Succos. No problem. The website said to return that Sunday at 8pm.

Monday the 5th, I went back to the website to place my order. Good news! Online ordering had resumed! BAD NEWS! Online SHIPPING was suspended till the 12th, again due to the Jewish holiday of Succos. I could PLACE the order, but it would not be fulfilled until the 12th. Argh.

Still, ok. I could wait a week. No big deal. Still a good company, still good prices, still local. I decided to wait.

Monday the 12th, I went to the website AGAIN. This time, I was able to place my order no problem. According to my confirmation, I’d have my shipment by Wednesday. YAY!

When I got the package though, this is what I found inside:

A GAPING HOLE IN THE BOX!

As a result of that hole, the mic stand inside was totally scuffed! What gets me the most about this is that the mic stand clearly didn’t get damaged in transit. The SHIPPING BOX was in good condition. Someone took the mangled box off the shelf and shipped it off to me this way! With no thought, whatsoever! Like, SERIOUSLY?!

So I wrote to them. I gave them my order number, my reference number and the name of the product. I told them the product was damaged. They wrote back saying they didn’t know what product I was referring to and that they needed photos.

Lemme recap that part.

I sent them the order number.

I sent them the reference number.

I sent them the NAME. OF. THE. PRODUCT.

And they wrote back, “We did not understand which item you were talking about. Please email me some pictures and advise me what you would like to do. You can of coarse[sic] reorder and send this one back.”

{{sigh}}

Fine. Ok. So I took pictures. I sent them. They wrote back and said that I could place an order for a new one. Meanwhile, they would send me a pre-paid UPS shipping label and I could send the other one back for a return. Honestly, this was not ideal to me. Why? I spent $43 on this mic stand. What they were telling me I had to do was to spend ANOTHER $43 on ANOTHER mic stand. Meanwhile, I had to ship the other one back and wait up to 2 weeks for a return to be processed before I ccould get my initial $43 back. Um, HI! Hello! I might actually NEED that $43!!! Why do I have to shell out another $43 because they made a mistake?

BUT OK! FINE! I packaged it up, I sent it back, I placed the new order.

Two days later, I got a new mic stand and GUESS WHAT?

Yep.

Seriously.

Damaged.

Sca-RATCHED.

Is it unusable? No. I could use it. Is it right that I should have to pay full-price for a brand-new item that is not in brand-new condition? NO. It’s the f’in principle here, peeps.

So now it’s the 23rd and I have been trying to obtain this mic stand from these people for the last 21 days – a mic stand I could have had by the 6th at the latest had I just ordered it from Guitar Center or Sam Ash. Hell, I could have DRIVEN to Sam Ash and had it WEEKS ago. Maybe even for less.

I wrote them a loooooooooong letter detailing my entire saga and ending in the following:

I am anxious to hear how you are going to rectify this situation in a way that is going to retain my loyalty as a customer.

Because it’s. like. that.

Having me return it for a refund ain’t gonna cut it, F. Y. I.*

I’ll keep you posted

*Adam frequently mentions that he hopes he never gets on my bad side. FOR GOOD REASON.

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I know the feeling of a blog just sounding echoes back at you… That’s part of the reason I got rid of the knitting blog and moved the personal blog to a new address. Maybe I’ll post more that way. Or something.

That is effin’ ridiculous that you’ve been dealing with this for the better part of a month just to get something that’s still damaged! I am completely pissed on your behalf. Maybe you could light a fire under their ass by telling them you’re reporting this entire transaction to the BBB? (And I’m totally with Adam – I *never* want to get on your bad side. Ever.)

I would be just as peeved as you are. You pay money for a NEW product, not a damaged one. They are a smallish business and need to keep their customers happy, this is not cool! Keep fighting, they probably just hope you’ll give up.

That sincerely sucks! I’d be insanely pissed about something like that! I hope it all turns out well. And seriously, you should read audio books for a living. Your voice is more dynamic than some of the books I’ve listened to since I’ve had my audible account.

We regret your dissatisfaction and the frustration it has caused. If I understand correctly, our customer service staff apologized and offered you a $15.00 discount on the $42.95 item you purchased. That’s around a 35% discount. The other option is you return the stand you have for an exchange or refund. We will be happy to accommodate whichever of these options you prefer and as I said, we regret having dissatisfied you.